


For This We Do

by WillowEdmond



Series: Payton [3]
Category: Professional Wrestling, WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Gen, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 10:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5865307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowEdmond/pseuds/WillowEdmond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While everything seems to be going well with Payton's upcoming adoption, suddenly, Payton is out of sorts, and Seth needs to figure out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For This We Do

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place during the events of The Girl Who Lives. Originally, I was going to write this as part of that story, but I felt it would have been too much, or lost in the shuffle. I decided to write it later as a stand alone story.

Payton was irritable and cranky, and Seth wasn't sure what to do about it. He understood that these last few months had been more than rough on the girl, she had lost her brother and lost her parents in a span of less than a month. Right after her parents were buried, she'd been tossed into the system, and assigned a social worker, while things were being worked out for Seth and Kayla to adopt her. She was seeing a grief counselor for the loss of her family, now she was seeing a court appointed child psychologist to see if Seth and Kayla were the right people to adopt her. That was a lot of stress for a young girl to handle, so it really shouldn't be surprising that she was a little off her game.

But, there was a calm now, because Seth and Kayla had been approved by the state to be foster parents. Everyone was eager to get the adoption over with too, but because of the stress, Gina Picard, the social worker, and Bethany Laughlin, their lawyer, had suggested they take a break for a month to give Payton a chance to catch her breath and relax before they started with the next part, the offical adoption. Seth and Kayla had agreed wholeheartedly, and Seth found himself almost wanting to hug Gina, which was something akin to a miracle as Seth normally found Gina to be bossy and annoying. But on this she was right. Payton needed some time away from doctors and social workers.

The first week of this break had been fine. After Seth had finished with Raw and the Smackdown filming, the three of them went to the Lost Island Adventure park, where they spent a few days, most of them at the water park, which Payton adored. The other two days, the three of them took a long bike ride one day, and had a picnic at the local park the other. Normal, family activities. It had seemed like the earlier stress of losing so much and then going through so much was slipping off her shoulders for a bit, and both Seth and Kayla were thrilled.

Then came the second week and cracks started showing through Payton's calm demeanor, as if it had been but a slightly too small shell that was unable to hold her. It wasn't horrible, she would snap occasionally when asked to do something minor, such as take her sandals to her room, rather than leave them in the entry way, but they weren't things Payton normally did. Normally, she was almost too good about remembering to put things in their proper place, so forgetting was strange enough. Having her snap at them, "Why didn't you bring them to me, since you were in the hall?" was so odd that the first time she'd said it, Seth just found himself walking away.

Kayla, on the other hand, wasn't going to play shocked. She went up to Payton's room and told her in no uncertain terms, that it wasn't her or Seth's job to pick up after her, and Seth had told her to go get her sandals from the entry way, because that's how she would learn.

Payton had looked ashamed and embarrassed after Kayla's stern lecture and slipped almost silently to the entry way to get her sandals. They thought the problem was solved, but the next day, she left them there again.

"Is she testing us?" Seth asked one night, after they had tucked Payton into bed, after she had been told she had to put her bike in the garage, because she had left it in the driveway. She had done it, but it had taken another lecture about how if she was old enough for things like bicycles, she was old enough to take proper care of them. After Payton's folks had died, she had latched herself onto Seth like he was an anchor she needed to cling to all the time. Dr. Graves, her grief counselor had told Seth that she was testing to make sure that Seth and Kayla were really serious when they said they would always love her. It had been understandable, seeing that Payton's blood parents had not been very loving of their daughter. But she had seemed to have gotten over that phase, although now he was wondering.

"Maybe," Kayla said, frowning. "But it seems rather odd that she'd start up now, that she's on a break from all of that."

"Maybe that's exactly _why_ she's doing it," Seth pointed out. "Maybe, because nothing is progressing this month, she's worried that we're going to forget about going through with the adoption?"

Kayla pondered that for a moment, then nodded. "Maybe you're right," she said, her voice thoughtful. "It would make sense. I mean, she needs the break from all the hassle, but maybe she's thinking you and I will love being on break so much, we won't want to go back to the grind of adoption?"

They agreed not contact Gina Picard about ending the break, but instead they would assure Payton that they were looking forward to the day when she legally became their daughter. And, for a day or so, that seemed to work. Then, moody Payton came right back and if anything, got worse.

* * *

 

When Seth got home, just before dawn on Wednesday of the third week, Kayla was in the kitchen mixing up waffle batter. She was wearing a pair of black silk lounging pajamas and her hair was down, hanging freely in her face.

"Hey, Sexy," Seth said, coming over to her and wrapping his arms around her. "Missed you."

"I missed you, too," she said, and kissed him.

When they drew apart, he looked at her, really studied her, seeing signs of worry in her eyes. "Is everything all right with Payton?" he asked.

She sighed. "Not really. I've been trying to talk to her, trying to reassure her that everything is going to be all right. I even had Bethany talk to her." Bethany was their lawyer and she specialized in family court cases. In the past, she had talked to Payton, assured her that everything that could be done was being done to make certain Payton would end up adopted by Seth and Kayla. In the past it had often worked wonders. Something about Bethany, even though she had a cute college cheerleader look to her, made you think that she would stop at nothing to get her goal, and right now her goal was to see Payton Caldwell become Payton Rollins. "I-I'm glad you're home," Kayla admitted, "I hope that seeing you will make her feel better."

When Payton came into the kitchen and saw Seth, her eyes did light up and she ran over to him, flinging her arms around him. Seth had just helped himself to a cup of coffee and had to do some quick shifting in order not to splash hot liquid on the child, but he managed to get the cup on the kitchen table and hugged her back. "Pay!" He leaned over and kissed the top her her head.

"Uncle Seth!" She buried her face in his shirt for a moment, then leaned her head back so she was looking up at him. "I missed you!"

"Not as much as I missed you," he said, grinning.

"No, I missed you more!" she insisted, grinning herself. It was one of her favorite games they both played, each one insisting they had missed the other one more.

"No, I missed you more than a shoe misses a sock."

"That's nothing," she said, shaking her head. "I missed you more than flowers miss the rain."

"Piffle!" Seth said. "I missed you more than a whale would miss the ocean."

"Oh yeah? Well I missed you more than a- a cupcake misses frosting!"

They went on and on like this for a few minutes, the comparisons getting more and more outlandish and amusing, until finally she said, "I miss you more than an egg would miss its shell!"

"Okay, you win," he said, giving her another hug.

"Why don't you get you and your uncle some juice?" Kayla suggested, smiling at the both of them. "We're having waffles for breakfast."

Payton's eyes clouded and it was like all the happiness of the last few minutes was sucked right out of the room. "I don't like waffles!" she declared.

"Yes you do," Seth disagreed, puzzled at her statement. "You love waffles, at least your Aunt Kayla's waffles." It was true too. Kayla didn't make waffles for breakfast every morning, but when she did, Payton was usually overjoyed and ate an entire one, covered in sliced fruit. The last time they had waffles, she had declared that she wished she could have them for breakfast every single morning.

"Well, I don't want them today!" Payton said, shaking her head. Somehow, she had gone from happy to irritable, simply by the mention of waffles.

Seth heard Kayla's sigh before she asked, "Well, Payton, what do you want for breakfast?"

"French toast!" Payton snapped. "Cinnamon French toast."

Seth saw Kayla mentally debating if she should make French toast for the girl and decided it was time to step up. Normally, Seth was the one who was prone to over indulging Payton, but he knew Kayla had made waffles because they were usually Payton's favorite and she wanted to please the girl who'd been so prickly lately. "No," he said, kindly but firmly. "Your aunt went to a lot of trouble to make waffles and until this morning, you loved waffles. We're having waffles for breakfast."

"Then I don't want breakfast!" Payton said, her chin at a defiant angle.

"Fine," Seth said, forcing his voice to sound calmer than he felt. "You can skip breakfast."

Payton stared at him, a look of angry surprise on his face, obviously thinking that he would have backed down and made her french toast. She swallowed twice in rapid succession, then forced herself to shrug. "Good. I'm not hungry anyway. I'll just go back to my room!"

"No you won't!" Seth said, as she turned. "You don't have to eat anything, but you will sit at the table with us. You will at least drink a glass of orange juice and keep us company while we eat the delicious waffles Kayla is making."

"But-" Payton sputtered, then realized Uncle Seth would not bend on this. "Fine!" she almost shouted.

* * *

 

Breakfast was a strained affair and not much fun for any of them. Payton refused to talk, answering direct questions to her with only a shrug. The only noise she made was to sip her orange juice loudly. Part of Seth wondered if he should let her leave, so at least he and Kayla could enjoy breakfast, but he decided that if he let her go, then she won and on this, he didn't think she deserved a win.

Only when breakfast was finished and they had made Payton help with the clean up, despite her argument that since she didn't eat, she shouldn't have to clean up, did they let her go back to her room. She stormed out of there, running up the stairs, her feet thumping so loudly on the floor that she almost shook the house.

"Has she been this bad all week?" Seth asked, when she was gone.

Kayla shook her head. "No, this is the worst. But she's been getting a little worse these last two days. I thought it was because you were gone. Now I'm not sure."

Seth realized that while Kayla loved Payton as much as he did, these last two days of doing it alone had been wearing. "Look," he said, going over and putting his arms around her to comfort her. "I'm going to give her one hour. One hour to calm down. If she doesn't come downstairs by then, I'm going to go confront her and get to the bottom of this."

Kayla nodded, hugging him back. "But, what if this is one of those things where she's acting out and she doesn't really even know why she's doing it?"

Seth bit his lip thoughtfully. "Sometimes just talking can give me at least a clue," he said. "Maybe talking will get her to realize what's wrong herself. And if it's something we can't handle, we'll call Dr. Graves. She did say she'd make time for Payton whenever she needed it, right?"

Kayla nodded. "I hope you can figure it out," she said sadly. "I hate seeing her so upset."

Seth kissed her tenderly on the lips and hugged her again. Kayla was resourceful and tough when she needed to be, but she was also surprisingly soft hearted. Even though Payton was being extremely bratty, Kayla was worried more if she was all right, not that she needed to wise up and stop acting like a jerk. "Have I told you lately how glad I am I married you?" he asked.

"Yes, you have," she admitted, smiling. "But you know I don't mind hearing it."

"Well, I'm so glad I married you."

* * *

 

Just as the hour was passing, and Seth was going to go up and talk to Payton, he felt his cell phone vibrate. He and Kayla were sitting on the sun porch, drinking coffee and talking. He fished it out of his pocket to see who was calling and to decide if he'd take the call.

The name on the caller ID surprised him. "It's Leah," he said to Kayla. Leah had only recently gotten her own smart phone and both Dean and he had told Roman to program into it their private numbers, just in case of an emergency. Seth knew Leah wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important, so he hit the button and put it to his ear. "Leah?"

"Uncle Seth," Her voice sounded slightly worried. "Uh, sorry if I'm bugging you. Are you alone?"

"Aunt Kayla is in the room," he admitted. "What's up?"

"Is Payton in the room?" Her voice still sounded cautious.

"Nope, just me and your Aunt Kayla," Seth said. "I thought Payton might be Skyping with you, actually."

"She was," Leah admitted, "and you have to promise me you won't tell her I called."

Seth was more than a little curious, and a bit worried too. Leah wasn't the type to go behind her friend's back, but obviously what she wanted to tell him was something Payton didn't want him and Kayla to know about. "I promise, this stays between you and me," he assured her.

"Cross your heart?" Leah asked, her voice rising just a bit.

"Hope to die," he responded. "Leah, if something is wrong with Payton, something that you feel that for the sake of Payton's best interests, we should know, then you're doing the right thing by telling us. Aunt Kayla and I will do everything in our power to help her without giving away that we heard it from you, okay?"

"Okay." Leah sighed, then drew in a deep breath before speaking. "Payton's been sad lately, and she _finally_ told Neil and me what was bothering her; today is Preston's birthday."

Seth was silent, as it all clicked into place. Preston had been a rather spoiled kid, his parents having indulged him and favored him, but Payton had loved him despite of that. Even though she had handled his death bravely, almost a little too bravely, Seth had sensed that her mourning cut into her deeper than she had allowed the world to see. And while he was sure she had come to terms with it for the most part, it only made sense that there would be certain times when it would come back to haunt her. Like, for example, his birthday.

"Uncle Seth?"

He heard Leah's voice through the phone and forced himself to stop thinking. "Yeah, Leah, I'm here," he assured her. "And I want to thank you so much for telling me. I-I didn't know." He was honest with that. While he had gone to the funeral, and maybe Preston's birth date had been on the program, it hadn't registered. He had been more worried about Payton at that point. And, the Caldwells had still been alive at that point, so it never occurred to him that he should have kept track of things like Preston's birthday.

"She misses him," Leah said, her voice softer, but still worried. "And she's kind-of afraid that if she talks about him, you and Kayla will be hurt."

"What?" Seth blurted out before he could think. "Why would she be worried about that?"

"Because you want to adopt her," Leah explained. "She's afraid that you won't want her to think of him as her brother anymore, because he's not your son."

The words hit him like a weight. "That's-that's not true," he said, stumbling over the words. "Your Aunt Kayla and I know he's her brother and we never want her to stop thinking of him as her brother. Even when we finalize her adoption and she's our daughter, he's still her brother."

"I know that," Leah said, her voice relaxing a bit. "Neil knows it too. And we told her that, but she's still worried. She's still afraid that you guys won't like it, or you'll think it's stupid that she's sad because he's gone, you know? Like, why would it matter that it's Preston's birthday if he's... gone."

"Yeah, I think I get it," Seth said. Kayla was looking at him, clearly wondering what was going on, but she was being quiet, trying to piece together what she could from only hearing one side of the conversation. "And she's wrong. I do understand that it matters. And we'll do what we can to fix this."

"Okay. But _please,_ don't tell her I called."

"I won't," Seth assured her yet again. "And thank you so much for calling us, Leah. You did the right thing."

When he disconnected the phone, he looked at Kayla. "Today is Preston's birthday," he said, simply.

Kayla's eyes widened and it was obvious that just like with Seth, everything that had been going on was making sense, now. "Oh, poor Payton!" she said, her eyes filling with tears.

"Yeah," Seth said, nodding too. "Leah said she didn't say anything because she's worried that we'll be upset."

"What?" Kayla's voice was still soft, but it rose a couple octaves. "Why would she think we'd be upset?"

"Because we've been telling her she's going to be our daughter," Seth said. "That she has us, and we're going to be a family. She's worried that because she's our daughter, we won't want her to think of Preston as her brother anymore because-"

"He's not our son," Kayla interrupted, a look of understanding and sadness on her face. "Oh, poor, Payton!" Her eyes glistened with tears. "That poor little girl!"

"Yeah," Seth agreed.

"We have to do something," Kayla said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and looking at him. "Any ideas?"

"I have a few," Seth admitted. "We have to somehow mark this occasion. I don't know how, but I have a feeling Payton might have some ideas." He rose from his chair. "I'm going to talk to her."

Kayla nodded. "I'll let you find out what she wants to do," she said. "And once we know, I'll do whatever I can to help."

* * *

 

Seth knocked on Payton's bedroom door and when he got no answer, he tried the door and found it unlocked. "Pay-pay?" he called softly, as he opened the door.

Her laptop was open on her desk and the screen saver, which was butterflies dancing across the screen was going, but she wasn't at her desk. She also wasn't on her bed, or in the room at all. But the door into her bathroom was open. "Pay?" he called out again, not wanting to disturb her if she were using the bathroom for private business.

"In here," a small, soft voice called out.

He walked into the bathroom where he found Payton, sitting in the large, claw foot, antique bathtub, her arms wrapped around her knees, looking forlorn. "Hey, Pay-pay," he said softly, coming over. "Isn't it a little hard to take a bath with your clothes on and no water?"

"I-I was pretending the tub was a boat," Payton lied.

She might have pretended the tub was a boat before, but it was pretty obvious that wasn't the case now. But Seth decided not to call her on that. He sat down on the lid of the toilet, which was right close to the tub. "Sounds like a fun game," he said.

"Sometimes it is," Payton admitted glumly, "but not today." She looked over at him. "I-I'm sorry I was bad at breakfast. I'm really sorry."

"I know," Seth said, not wanting to dismiss her actions as acceptable, but not wanting to punish her further. "I can tell you aren't happy with what happened."

She nodded, sniffling and Seth could see the red in her eyes, and realized she'd been crying. "I don't want to be bad," she admitted. "But sometimes, it's like I can't help it."

"Yeah," Seth said, reaching to the back of the toilet tank and taking the box of tissues, which he held out to her, letting her grab one and wipe her eyes and blow her nose. "But, I think today, I understand why you were feeling out of sorts."

"Oh?" She turned her head to look at him, resting it on her arms.

"Pay, let me ask you a question," He put the tissue box back on the tank. "Did Preston like french toast?"

Her eyes widened and she stared at him for a minute, then nodded and buried her face in her arms, hiding from his gaze. "It-it was his favorite," she admitted.

"And that's why you wanted it for breakfast," Seth concluded. "Because it's Preston's birthday. And I'll bet he always had french toast on his birthday, right?"

She raised her head to look at him again, a look of surprise and fear on her face. "You knew?" she whispered.

"No, I didn't," he admitted. "Neither did your Aunt Kayla. We got a call from someone who reminded us."

A look of suspicion crossed her face. "Who?" she demanded.

"Uncle Dolph," Seth lied. He had promised himself he would never lie to Payton unless he absolutely had no choice, but he felt this was one of those cases. Payton needed Leah, the two of them had become fast friends since they met and he knew that both girls would suffer if their friendship was strained by the breaking of a confidence. Dolph was a good lie to tell, Dolph had been close to Preston, and likely knew his birthday. Seth made a mental note to talk to Dolph later and let him know he had been brought into this conspiracy. And also to let Leah know as well that she was off the hook. _Oh, what a tangled web we weave,_ he found himself thinking. "He was wondering what we had planned."

She studied him for a bit, then nodded.

"Payton, I am so sorry," Seth said, glad to be able to talk honestly again. "And so is Aunt Kayla. We know how much you loved Preston and how hard this must be for you. And we should have known and talked about this awhile ago."

"What does it matter?" Payton asked, the tears spilling down her cheeks again. "You didn't really like Preston. Not that I blame you," she hastily added. "He was an awful brat to you."

"Yeah, he was pretty bratty," Seth admitted. "But you know, he's your brother. Even though he's gone, he's still your brother. You love him and that's good. And because you love him, part of me loves him too. Yes, he was bratty to me, but he touched the lives of a lot of the people who knew him well, and he deserves to be remembered for that."

"He-he-he," Payton stammered, then blurted it out, "He's _gone,_ he's _dead_ , and I tell myself it doesn't matter, that he's better off because he's not sick anymore, and he's got Mom and Dad with him now, but I miss him. I don't feel so bad for him, cause he's in heaven and heaven is supposed to be the best place ever, but I miss him for _me!"_ She buried her face again in her arms and sobbed.

"I know you do, sweetie," Seth said, taking the tissue box off the tank again and offering it to her, by tapping her lightly on the arm with it. Without looking up, she reached and took out a handful this time. Seth put the box back on the tank and then leaned over, stroking her hair. "And even though he's not here anymore, I'm sure he wants you to remember him. And especially on his birthday, I'm sure he would like to see that you remember him, that you mark the occasion."

"How?" she asked, still sobbing. "What do we do?"

"I don't know," Seth admitted. "I didn't know him as well as you did. Would you like to visit his grave? We could pick up some flowers to bring."

"Preston _hated_ flowers," Payton said, lifting her head and looking at him, tears spilling down her cheeks, her nose red from crying. "He got flowers all the time when he was in the hospital. He said flowers were for sick and he _hated_ being sick."

"I can understand that," Seth said, moving his hand down, so he was stroking her back now, trying to comfort her, part of him wanting to lift her out of the tub and hold her in his arms. "Okay, no flowers."

"He loved balloons," she admitted. "He said balloons were for happy things, not just sick. So whenever I had the money, when he was in the hospital, I bought him a balloon."

"We can get some balloons," Seth said. He remembered the dress she had picked out for the funeral, a bright red dress chosen because it was Preston's favorite color. "How about some red ones?"

She nodded. "He'd like that," she admitted. There was still a look of overwhelming sadness in her eyes, but there was something beneath that sadness that looked like hope. She knew that marking Preston's birthday, even though he was gone, would not bring him back. But she also knew that it would help her feel better. "Maybe some blue ones too?" she offered. "Like the color of his eyes?"

"That would be good," Seth said, nodding. "And one of those big silver ones that says 'Happy Birthday?' The ones that stay floating for days?

"He loved those!" Payton said, sniffling away the last of her tears and wiping at her eyes with the wad of used tissues.

"Well, then, we'll have to get at least one of those," Seth said, allowing himself a smile. "So, balloons definitely. Say, I've got an idea, why don't you wash your face, and we'll go downstairs and talk to Aunt Kayla. Maybe she can offer some suggestions."

Payton nodded and stood up. She was about to step out of the tub, but she stopped as Seth rose from the toilet seat lid. "Uncle Seth?" she asked, her voice taking on a timid tone.

"Yes?"

"Again, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I was so awful at breakfast. I-I love you and Aunt Kayla, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do," Seth said, wrapping his arms around her, hugging her tightly and lifting her out of the bathtub. "And we love you, Pay-Pay. And we always will."

* * *

 

It was late afternoon when an SUV pulled into the cemetery parking lot. The caretaker, an elderly man who lived in a small house on the grounds, watched as three people, a good looking man with hair that was mostly brown, but with a few locks of obviously died blond, a beautiful woman with long, dark hair and a cute young girl who was obviously their daughter got out of the vehicle. They went around to the back and started taking stuff out. The caretaker watched as the young girl was handed a huge bunch of balloons, most in red and blue, but some of those silver Mylar ones that proclaimed "Happy Birthday!" on them as well. Then the man reached in and pulled out a blanket, which he handed to the woman and finally, a huge picnic basket.

He watched as the man secured the car, then the three of them started walking back to one of the graves. When they found the grave they wanted, he saw the man pull something out of the picnic basket that looked like a wire loop with a stake on the end. He stuck it into the ground next to the grave, and then helped the girl tie the balloons to it. While they were doing that, the woman spread the blanket on the ground, not on the grave, or the one in front of it, but carefully and respectfully, between the isles. When the balloons were fastened, the three of them sat on the blanket and the woman began pulling things out of the basket, various foods, and finally, a small cake.

The caretaker had worked here for almost forty years, and he knew that people had all sorts of ways to deal with mourning. He had one woman who came every morning, rain or shine, and sat by her husband's grave, and cried for him. On Sundays, a lot of people came to pay a quick visit. So, he knew enough to know that everyone dealt with loss their own way.

They were quiet for the most part, eating their picnic dinner and talking. But it wasn't a heartbroken quiet, although he sensed sadness from them for a life cut short. It was a respectful quiet. Then, as the caretaker was finishing up for the day, and heading to his house, he saw them open the container that held the cake. The man pulled out a BBQ lighter and carefully used it to light seven candles.

As the caretaker was opening the door to go inside to his own supper, he heard the sound of the three of them singing, "Happy Birthday."

The End.


End file.
